Homemade Fermented Pineapple Vinegar

I have apple cider vinegar every morning in water to help with appetite and proper digestion, but it’s always a treat to make this vinegar with left-over pineapple scraps. It’s a great way to use the entire fruit after you’ve eaten the delicious flesh and a fantastic means to get more probiotic-rich fermented foods into your diet.

It should be no surprise that pineapple vinegar has all of the same fantastic health benefits of eating fresh pineapple, after all it’s made from pineapple flesh (and rind). Pineapple is rich in bromelain, well known for it’s anti-inflammatory actions and protein digestion-promoting effects and when fermented as pineapple vinegar adds a wallop of probiotic superpowers too. Drink one teaspoon of pineapple vinegar in water daily (or thirty minutes before meals) for the digestive and anti-inflammatory benefits or you can also use it instead of other types of vinegar in salad dressings or other recipes (try this Chilli-Lime Corn Relish and an Anti-inflammatory Kiwi Juice Tonic!).

While it’s extremely easy to make, be sure to always thoroughly wash and clean the rind of your pineapple with a vegetable brush before you start cutting it up for any pineapple recipes. That rough, spiky skin can be a harbour for dirt and bacteria. Also make sure to wash and sterilise your jars and utensils before you get started with this recipe. We don’t want any unwanted bacteria to start growing in our pineapple vinegar – just the good stuff!

As you do want some good bacteria and yeast to thrive and turn your pineapple/sugar water into vinegar don’t cap your jar tightly like you would with other food stuffs. Instead affix some thin material or paper towel over the top of the jar with a rubber band. This allow the friendly bacteria on your pineapple rind and natural air-borne yeasts to breathe and work harder to make you the most flavourful vinegar you’ll ever taste. Theis light cover will also keep bugs out – my pineapple vinegar ferment tends to draw ants… ick! Stirring the jar gently everyday for 2-3 weeks will help to further aerate the mixture and encourage healthy fermentation.

After two – three weeks of fermentation you can taste you vinegar for tartness, then strain out the leftover pineapple and pour your finished product in bottles. You might even be lucky and be rewarded with your own pineapple vinegar mother (similar to a kombucha scoby) that can be used as a starter for a new batch of vinegar. This looks like a white ‘skin’ at the top, or the bottom of the jar. You can an example of pineapple vinegar mother sitting at the bottom of my fermenting jar above (top photo). Using the mother can cut back your next pineapple ferment to little over a week. For now though, let’s dive into making our first batch of homemade pineapple vinegar!

Dissolve sugar in water in glass jar. Add pineapple scraps and rind until jar has 1cm headroom and secure covering material over mouth of jar with rubber band.

Place in a dark cupboard or pantry at and allow to ferment for 2-3 weeks, opening container to stir contents daily for aeration.

After fermenting time has elapsed, strain contents through a nut milk bag or cheesecloth into sterilised bottles and seal. Vinegar is ready for consumption now, or may be fermented for another week or so or until to desired taste. Store final product in the refrigerator - at room temperature it will continue fermenting.

Comments 52

I always worry about harbouring (growing!) bacteria with fermented products, which tends to put me off. However, this looks so delicious that I think I may be swayed to do a deep clean of everything and then go into fermentation mode 🙂

Hello,
I found and started a similar recipe before running across this one. I’m a week into the process and using cheesecloth to cover the jar. When I went to stir the jar today, about 4-6 tiny bugs flew out once opened. Oddly, they did not stick around or come back like they would around a plant. I like your idea to use the paper towel. Earlier today I doubled-up the cheesecloth. How much does the secondary environment matter? My jar is in the garage so it doesn’t freak out the family, but I imagine it’s more vulnerable to bugs. After giving it some thought I wonder if the batch is an incubation area now for more bugs. Should I throw away this batch? I was blessed w/ a mother. Can I salvage either ‘her’ or the batch by boiling at some point? I don’t recall being told to wash the outside skin on the other recipe either, so this could have been my fate from day one. Ideas?

Personally I would probably through the batch out (but keep the mother culture of course). You can’t boil the mother as you’ll kill the bacteria and yeasts contained, though you could boil the strained vinegar if you really wanted to keep and consume it.
Pineapples are one of those rough skinned fruits that most definitely need a scrub before you use the skin, as small flies and fruit flies oven lay their eggs on the skin of ripe fruit. I can’t say for certain that’s where the contamination started from, but I would play it safe and dispose of it in case it’s just the start of the infestation!

Thanks for your reply, Alison! I just worry, how do I know that the infestation isn’t actually within the mother if I were to throw out the batch and save “her?” Maybe since I’m just starting out as a young freshman and not losing “years of dedication,” it would be best to re-start from scratch. I definitely appreciate the tip on scrubbing the rind… can’t believe the other recipe never mentioned it!

Good point about the mother, since it’s so easy to ferment the pineapple without the mother it’s probably best to toss the whole thing 🙁 I’m not surprised about the other recipe not mentioning to wash the pineapple though, it wasn’t until I learnt more about health and nutrition that I started washing all my produce before consuming them!

Thanks for the recommendation Julie, I had meant to mention that a few layers of cheesecloth would be needed for the perfect cover and I have updated the post to reflect this. I have also added your suggestions for other materials to use on top of what I had already posted. Thank you for the input and for pointing up my mistake 😀 Cheers!
Sorry for the late reply to your message also, I’ve been away from blogging for a little while lately.

I once had a fruit fly skip in under my cover and ruin my batch of apple cider vinegar. If there’s no sign of anything amiss after a week, you might be fine, but check well! My little friend laid eggs in the developing mother, and within days, there were dozens of larvae happily romping around in it- BLAH! Check for larvae- they will be in the mother layer, not the vinegar itself.

Using it as a salad dressing sounds wonderful Alison, I would love to hear what recipe you come up with 😀 Please forgive me for the late reply, I’ve been AWOL from blogging lately and replying back to everyone today. Cheers!

Don’t stress about the mother, even without it your batch should be fantastic! Would love to hear how the salad dressing goes too, and sorry for the late reply to your comment, I’ve been away from blogging for a little while.

I am not going to play a smart know it all. But if there is no mother aka proper bacteria culture in the raw vinegar it is not vinegar . Meaning, even if there is no semi solid body of bact and it tastes and smells vinegary. The mother is there. And your produce can be used by the tablespoon to boost fermentation in other vinegars.

Beware that no alcohol means no vinegar. Usually for super sweets like apples, mangos and pineapples a 2 to 4 week fermentation is needed to create the hard cider. After that it is 2 to 12 weeks all depending on many factors. Temp is important 29 degrees C seems to be mother top choice above 30 is less wanted and below 15 is no go. (Kill zones). And if u have a mother to add to your hard cidef things will lean towards 2 weeks rather than 12.

Btw letting a vinegar ferment up untill 6 months should be very nice if u start without lil ol mumsy. After that further ripening can take place at own risk and pref at a dark cool place, 5 to 14 degrees C.

Hi Valeria, being a fermented product it only gets better with age! For best results I keep mine in the fridge once I’m happy with the stage of fermentation so it stops being more sour. My latest batch is 3 months old at the moment and is still amazing.

Having made this, I am surprised that nobody else has pointed out that the scraps of one pineapple plus three cups of water almost perfectly fill a 2L jar for fermentation (with enough room for foaming). A 1L jar would overflow even without bubbles.

Even so, it’s a good recipe and huge applause for getting people to appreciate this wonderful vinegar. Next… everyone Google “Ecuadorian cuisine” and other South American cuisines! You will not be sorry.

Thanks for the feedback Eddy! I have amended the instructions to include adding the pineapple scraps to the 1L jar until there is 2cm headroom. When I made my last batch I was using a sugar pineapple and it JUST fit when I was making a 1L batch of vinegar – if you need to make it up to a 2L size then that’s even better, as you’ll have twice as much digestion-boosting probiotics to go around 😀 Thanks for the fabulous feedback!

I started my journey towards a non inflammatory diet three weeks ago. I have rheumatoid arthritis. As I was cutting up a pineapple this morning I thought why could I not make pineapple vinegar with the trimmings? I have a big jar of apple peeling/cores fermenting for apple cider vinegar. So I did an Internet search and your site was the first one that popped up. The only thing that I did not know about was to scrub the pineapple before trimming. I am going to go ahead and ferment this batch and see what happens. Thank you!

My pleasure Caroline, I can’t wait to hear how your batch of pineapple vinegar goes – glad I could help you out with the cleaning tip for the skin too! Hope the anti-inflammatory diet is going well for you 🙂

So… my pineapple vinegar is purely experimental after reading the comments. First, I didn’t get to sterilize my jars, though I washed it with hot water prior. Second, I didn’t have raw sugar on hand, instead I used raw honey (I hope it still turns out bc I’d rather use raw honey instead of raw sugar). Third, I didn’t just include the pineapple skins, I also put in pieces of the pineapple meat that was already starting to ferment. With that said, I have about 5 more days till the end of the two weeks to try it and it’s got a lot of mother/culture going on. 🙂
If this doesn’t turn out, I already have some frozen pineapple skins to try this recipe again.
Is there anyway I can turn this into a Kombucha drink?

I love your experiment and I can’t wait to hear how it goes 😀 One of the best things about the practice of fermentation is that there isn’t hard and fast rules, it’s all a big science experiment at it’s core and everyone often gets different results.
Do you have a kombucha scoby at home? You could definately put the other pineapple skins in for a second ferment with a batch of kombucha, I usually let it rest for about 4 days and then strain it off to drink. I like to add a tiny bit of vanilla and some coconut water to the mix too and serve it with ice – it’s like a pina colada soda!

At 2wks in, I’m looking at my pineapple vinegar and I’ve always had the mother forming at the bottom, but now I’m starting to notice a thin white layer at the top. I’m guessing that’s also the mother after reading your instructions again. I also tasted it and I’m obviously comparing it the ACV. Not sure what I’m suppose to expect from my pineapple vinegar… It sure is different.

Allison – you’re so great at responding to us, it’s really awesome of you! I gave Pineapple Vinegar a 2nd try (this time using your recipe) starting 10/4/14, scrubbing the rind and everything. I used a paper towel on top w/ rubber band, stirring daily to airate, etc. Tonight we are 19 days in. The fruit has sunk to the bottom since about 3 days ago. Does that mean fermentation is done or perhaps all the sugars have been used up?

Also, confession, I strayed from the recipe in that I had 2 older, Granny Smith Apples in the fridge and added them w/ a tiny bit more sugar and water (proportionately to the recipe, because I’m adding more fruit).

Anyway, all is looking good as far as I can tell. It doesn’t smell anything like vinegar, however, it doesn’t smell like bad food in the pantry or fridge, and there are no bugs this time. I have a mother at the bottom too. Does this sound like it’s ready? I feel it’s time to strain and maybe for sanitary reasons I want to boil the liquid after… unless that kills all the probiotics that would have been good for me.

Bottom line- how do I know this batch is (a) successful and (b) safe? PS: Is it bad to stir or break-up the mother at the bottom? Thanks!

It’s my pleasure to reply 😀 Fermenting is such a fun thing and it’s fascinating to hear everyone’s experiences with it! I’m interested to try your recipe variation with the apple added, it sounds like you’ve got a bit of a pineapple-apple cider vinegar hybrid going on there!
You can definitely stop the fermentation now and strain it, there isn’t really a ‘minimum time’ and if you feel it’s completed and to your tasting preferences then you can go ahead and strain it now 🙂 My batch was similar, after the three week period the fruit had started to break down further and settle to the bottom of the jar as well. Also, while it may not smell like vinegar, does it smell ‘fermented’? My pineapple vinegar is nowhere near as strongly ‘vinegary’ as ACV or white wine vinegar, but it definitely has that tang. As long as it doesn’t smell off-putting or like garbage it should be absolutely fine. Collect a little in spoon and add to 1/2 cup water and then sip. It should be tangy, sour and still distinctly pineapple-y.
It’s not dangerous to stir in the mother, sometimes it will form a definite layer in the jar and other times it’s more like stringy bits of yeast/bacteria. I sometimes stir mine in, sometimes collect it for another batch or just throw it out when I strain my vinegar.
You can strain it now, and you can certainly boil it if you feel like that will be safer for you to consume and can be stored at room temperature. You’re right however, the probiotics will be killed off as soon as you heat the mixture. It will however still be a delicious addition to any recipe you would use vinegar in (salad dressings made with it are amazing!). I personally keep mine in the fridge after straining it off as this halts the fermentation and I can use it as wanted over several months.

Hi Ali,
I pulled my vinegar a few days after your reply. Thanks for providing me w/ confidence and your instruction to see this through. The jar did have a fermented smell, not off-putting but I think it takes a somewhat experienced cook to know the difference. That is opposed to my teenage daughters who wouldn’t know. I went straight for a taste without diluting the liquid and it was awesome. I think the apple probably toned down the sharpness that the pineapple alone would have had. I’m definitely making this again and sticking to your rules. I didn’t boil it either as I’m trying to get more probiotics into my life. I haven’t used it for a salad dressing yet, I’m just taking “shots” with it every so often. It’s awesome. Thanks for sharing w/ us!

It’s my pleasure Erik, I’m so happy the vinegar turned out so fantastically! I’m going to have to try your apple/pineapple blend as it sounds delicious 🙂 Let me know how you go with taking shots of this awesome vinegar, and check out the post again as I’ve linked up a recipe I recently used (Chili-Lime Corn Relish). Cheers 🙂

Hi Magui, great question! I touched on the comparison in the post itself, as pineapple vinegar does have some of the same digestive boosting properties. It is also highly anti-inflammatory and contains the digestive enzyme bromelain. I hope this answered your question 🙂

The information on feeding is all in the article and recipe Luis – the mother can be made to get a leg-up on a new batch of pineapple vinegar and it will feed on the sugar, as well as the natural sugars in the pineapple itself. I hope that helps! Thanks for the question and comment 🙂

I’m wanting to try this pineapple vinegar. I purchased my organic pineapple today and look forward to the experience. I’ve made other fermented items, like grape cooler, beet kvass and kambucha. My question is, will the pineapple scraps be thrown afterward or will they be able to be used again as I have beets w/ kvass? Thank you in advance for your reply.

After fermenting is done, most of the starter material (i.e. pineapple) is spent, and it would be best to throw away after straining. I have tried to use it in a second batch of ferment, but have found it takes much, much longer to get any results. This is not definitive however and I would love to hear what you create through experimentation!

I started two jars of pineapple vinegar several months ago, set them to process in a cool dark place in my basement, and forgot about them. I had noticed the smell of dampness, and mold. Low and behold, my vinegar..one jar was full of mold, and smelled foul. The other jar was full of the wonderful smell of vinegar… and looked like baby food. There is a great, solid mother on top…but no vinegar..

I seem to have created fermented pineapple mush

Any hope for saving this. Seems I may have not added enough water to my fruit. I’m so sad.

Sorry for the late reply, I’ve been away from blogging for a little while! At the point where it was all mush I would through the liquid out (and the mush) completely. If the mother culture looks in tact though, and is not moldy, I would certainly give it a go with a new batch!
I realise this comment would be way too late, and I’m sure you’ve already tried again, or thrown it out, sorry again 🙁

A fellow blogger buddy (www.thecastawaykitchen.com) mentioned pineapple fermented soda, and when I came across your recipe I decided to make a double batch today! One for soda and one for vinegar. Thanks for the idea!

Hello, love how easy it is to make the vinegar. I already done this part. I want to know how to add the jalapeños, onions ect. Because in other recipes they add regular vinegar, I don’t want that. I want everything made from scratch. Thank you !!

Hi Andrea, thanks for the comment 🙂 Glad you love the vinegar! What do you refer to, in regards to adding the jalapenos etc?
If you’re wanting to add to the vinegar I would put them in as a second ferment, after straining out the pineapple solids. Chop up any vegetables you want to add for flavouring, add to the strained pineapple vinegar and allow to ferment for another 1-2 weeks or until infused with the flavour level you prefer. Strain and store.

Hi! I hope you can help me with my dilemma. Me and my groupmates tried to make pineapple vinegar for a science project. However, we forgot to strain the pineapple parts after the given time period. After about two months, we checked on it and saw bugs inside the container. We plan on starting again from scratch. Do you have any ideas on how we’d be able to dispose the first batch of pineapple vinegar (the one with bugs in it)? I’m afraid that if we just pour it down the drain, the bugs might survive and live in the pipes. Thanks in advance! 🙂

Hi Di, I would recommend adding all the contents to a compost bin (if you have access to one), as the mix will be full of great probiotics for soil building, but if not the sink should actually be ok for disposal. Bugs won’t be able to live in the pipes, as water use will flush them through the system.
Sorry the vinegar didn’t turn out this time, hope you try it again 🙂

I adore pineapple in and of itself, so I definitely want to try making this at home. This looks so interesting to me. I can’t even imagine how delicious it would be to make a dressing using the vinegar and other citrus elements. Thank you for sharing your recipe! I’ll report back when I’ve given it a shot!